Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After securing transit of two gas tankers from the Strait of Hormuz, India is negotiating with Iran to secure safe passage for six more LPG tankers carrying about 270,000 metric tonnes of cooking fuel through the narrow waterway amid disruptions caused by regional conflict, the media reported on Monday.
The government is prioritizing them over other ships carrying crude oil and LNG due to the acute shortage of LPG in the country.
India gets about 90 percent of its LPG imports from West Asia, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is hitting restaurants, households, and petrochemical producers who use gas to make plastics.
The latest diplomatic effort comes after New Delhi last week secured safe transit through the narrow waterway for two tankers carrying a combined 92,000 metric tons of LPG, enough to meet roughly one day’s demand in the nation of more than 1.4 billion people.
22 vessels stranded
India still has 22 India-flagged vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Special Secretary at the Union Shipping Ministry, told reporters on Saturday. That includes the six LPG ships, four crude oil tankers, and one LNG carrier, he said.
Four of the LPG ships were chartered by Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), and one each by Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), and Indian Oil Corp (IOCL).
Beyond those vessels, India is also trying to get safe passage for the crude and LNG tankers, chartered by companies including Petronet LNG Ltd., IOC, HPCL, and Reliance Industries Ltd.
The crucial Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. India also takes a large proportion of its crude from West Asia, but has had some of the pressure taken off by the US’s granting of a 30-day waiver ‘allowing’ the country’s refiners to buy Russian oil. It’s been forced to ration supplies of LNG to industrial users after the world’s largest export plant in Qatar halted production.
Diplomatic engagement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said late last week that he had discussed the “serious situation in the region” with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, including a way to secure the passage of the ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Several of the vessels remain stranded in the Gulf region and India proposes “to continue to remain in touch and coordinate with all concerned countries to ensure safe and unimpeded transit for them in an effort to ensure our energy security,” Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for India’s foreign affairs ministry, said on Saturday.
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